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OVERVIEW

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Brief Synopsis

Farmington mayor Elviry Weaver and her husband, police chief Abner Weaver, are both under critical attack because of a crime wave in their town. Unknown to them and the other policemen, including Abner's mute brother Cicero, Councilman Bell is secretly responsible for the problem, as his "protection" service punishes anyone who does not pay him with raids and assaults. Elviry turns to an investigator named O'Brien, who cannot take the job himself but refers her to gangster Scarf Lennin, who is known for cleaning up any racket he wants to command. Elviry poses as a crooked politician to entice Lennin into coming to Farmington, assuming that once he exposes the wrong-doer she can coerce him to leave. Lennin immediately uncovers Bell as the perpetrator of the crimes, but the nearby defense plant makes Lennin realize that the possibilities for profit in Farmington are great. He buys the Weavers' old family home and converts it into The Homestead, a nightclub and gambling house which attracts all the defense plant workers, who soon begin to lose their money and their morale. Meanwhile, Fred Morgan, local newspaperman and boyfriend of Elviry and Abner's daughter Mary Jo, launches a campaign to censure the lawmakers who allow this extortion to continue, and subsequently incites Mary Jo's anger. When Elviry tries to close down the gambling house, Lennin points out that she is officially his partner, and tells her that if she persists he will expose her complicity in the scheme. Finally, Abner saves the day by coming up with a plan to prove that Lennin and his mob, as well as Bell and his gang, all have hoarded more sugar than the ration board will allow. He organizes a raid, tells the criminals that this offense will cost them $10,000 or ten years in jail, and turns them over to the government. Soon after, the Weavers move back to their old homestead as Mary Jo and Fred reconcile.